LOVE’S AWAKENING.

A moment of rose-lit gladness,
    And wise were the choice, I ween,
To pass on the wings of madness
    To a dawn that breaks unseen;
For ever the dearest fingers
Drive home the crudest knife,
And a deathless passion lingers
On the unkissed lips of life.

The stories of withered ages
    Are written in blood and tears,
The stain drips down to the pages
    That wait for the younger years.
Yet over all human sorrow,
    And beyond grief’s wildest dream,
Love’s pitiless waking morrow
    Stands eternally supreme.

                                                                        Victor Bridges.